To become a physician in the United
States, you should graduate from a 4-year college or university. (Although a
4-year degree is not always a requirement, it is highly recommended.)After you graduate from a 4-year college or
university with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) degree, you
go to medical school for 4 years.

The first two years of medical school are
primarily spent attending biomedical science classes.The courses taken in the first two years include Gross Anatomy,
Physiology, Neuroscience, Microbiology, Pharmacology, and others.After the second year in medical school,
medical students take an exam called USMLE Step 1, which covers all basic sciences
material that is taught in the first two years of medical school. After passing
USMLE Step 1 you enter the second half of medical school. The last two years of
medical school are spent both taking classes and on clinical rotations in
hospitals.This is where you get hands
on training under the guidance of physicians.During the fourth year, most students take the USMLE Step 2 exam, which
tests clinical knowledge.Successful
performance on USMLE Step 2 is required in order to receive the M.D. degree.

After four years of medical school, you
graduate with a M.D. degree in medicine but you still cannot practice medicine.
You must spend anywhere from 2 to 8 years more in residency, depending on
medical specialty or subspecialty you want to pursue.If you want to be a generalist physician/family
physician/primary-care physician you need to spend 2-3 years after medical
school in residency training. If you want to specialize in some area of
medicine, i.e. surgery, urology, cardiology or oncology, your residency will be
anywhere from 3-8 years depending on the medical specialty you choose to
pursue.As a resident you are in
training, but you are employed earning a modest income.During your residency you must pass USMLE
Step 3 in order to be state-certified for practice of medicine. USMLE Step 3
covers clinical thinking and clinical management.